I always buy a protective cover and a protective glass for every cell phone. The devices are becoming more and more robust by innovations in hardened glass, but with the prices that cost cell phones today, I prefer to be on the safe side.
And do you know what can still be really expensive? Camera lenses. This is exactly why I buy a so-called UV filter for each. Wait a minute-what does the filtering of UV light have to do with protective glasses?
Well, not much and yet everything.
What is a UV filter?
A UV filter is a transparent glass or plastic element that is mounted in front of the lens of a camera. Most of the time they are simply screwed onto the thread at the front.
Originally developed in analog photography, consisted of the main purpose of a UV filter in blocking ultraviolet light, which could often lead to a bluish veil on film recordings.
Modern digital cameras and lenses solve the problem through internal coatings and sensor filters. And yet I buy a UV filter for each lens, although they actually no longer fulfill their main purpose-for a good reason.
A UV filter is my protection against damage
My reason for buying is actually very simple. The UV filter is screwed to the lens at the front and thereby protects the front element ...
- Bumps,
- Staub,
- Fingerprints and other dirt.
Especially with lenses that can cost several hundred or thousands of euros, I prefer to be secured because accidents have happened.
Once an expensive 50mm lens slipped out of my hand when I wanted to change lenses. Of course, it hit the hard asphalt with the glass. I've already feared the worst. The UV filter had jumped. The relief came when I screwed it off: the lens was undamaged!
Since then, such a filter has been one of my must-builds to every camera lens. When buying, of course, you have to make sure that you buy a model with a compatible thread diameter.
Do UV filters change the image quality?
Although UV filters are often marketed as indispensable accessories to improve image quality, this is a further misconception. In fact, UV filters in modern digital cameras have no significant influence on the image quality in relation to UV light.
Instead, the use of inferior or improperly produced canUV filters negatively influence the image quality. In particular, favorable filters can cause reflections, Lens Flares, a reduction in the image sharpness or reduction of the contrast.
In addition, filters with particularly thick versions can lead to vignettes. Then the edges are shown darker in your photo than the image center.
So it can make sense to buy a UV filter with high-quality materials and from a well-known manufacturer. More expensive models have coatings to counteract such problems.
However, even with cheap filters, I don't have to have bad experiences with regard to image quality. Even a filter for just 10 euros fulfills its protective function without negative effects on image quality.
If you have bought an expensive lens with high optical quality, then of course I would recommend you to use a correspondingly high-quality UV filter so that the optical properties of your lens remain as untouched as possible.
